Friday, may 1, 2015
$1
tHe PULSe OF tHe PeNiNSULA
vol. 90, no. 18
S DAY MOTHER’ ing Din & Gift Guide
a blank slate media / litmor
publications special section
gUide tO mOtHeR’S dAy
RUmORed LeVeLS FiRiNg PROteSted
BiLLy JOeL tO CLOSe COLiSeUm
PAGES 31-50
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• may 1, 2015
Increase in opt outs for math tests
P E R S I A N d Ay PA R A d E
21.9% of students on the N. Shore decline to take latest state exam By JA m eS g A L L O W Ay One week after hundreds of North Shore students sat out the state English Language Arts exam, test refusal figures jumped even higher for the state’s math exam in a sign the opt-out movement continues to pick up steam. More than 2,200 students, or about 14.7 percent, opted out of the English exam administered to grades three through eight two weeks ago, between the Herricks, Mineola, East Williston, Great Neck, Roslyn, Manhasset, Port Washington, New Hyde ParkGarden City Park and Sewanhaka school districts. But for the math exam, North Shore opt outs swelled to 21.9 percent as more than 2,600 students from the same districts refused the test, a trend that was largely consistent across Nassau County. “I think the [opt-out] move-
ment is like a snowball rolling down a hill: It’s gaining momentum as social media and the press pick up on it,” said Mineola Superintendent Michael Nagler, whose district’s opt outs rose to 20.9 percent for the math exam from 18.3 percent for the English. Statewide, at least 193,000 students opted out of the English exam. And, with less than half of school districts reporting, math exam opt outs already exceed 150,000, according to figures from the anti-testing advocacy group NYS Allies for Public Education. Across Long Island, 46.5 percent of students opted out of the math exam, according to figures compiled by Newsday — and many districts in eastern Suffolk reported opt-out rates in excess of 50 percent, with Comsewogue leading the way at 83.5 percent. Even as opt-out numbers increased across the North Shore, Continued on Page 65
Hooshang Nematzadeh, Village of Kings Point trustee and Great Neck Chamber of Commerce president, Town of North Hempstead Supervisor Judi Bosworth and Councilwoman Anna Kaplan marched on April 19 in the annual Persian Day Parade in New York City.
Bow Tie Squire Cinema workers trying to unionize By A dA m L i d g e t t Workers at the Bow Tie Squire Cinema in Great Neck are trying to unionize, citing poor working conditions and low wages, a representa-
tive from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 said Monday. “It’s an unsafe environment to work in. There have been workers who said they have been getting burned and
that they don’t have proper safety equipment,” said Rafael Mouleon, a UFCW union organizer. “None of them have health benefits — they just all feel like they’re being treated Continued on Page 66
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